System and method for providing telephony services to remote subscribers

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing telephony services, such as caller ID, voice mail, selective call forwarding, and the like, to a remote subscriber, typically located outside the provider&#39;s regional territory. The system can include customer premise equipment (CPE) selectively connectable to a remote central office (CO), a packet-switched network gateway, such as an internet telephony gateway (ITG), for remotely communicating service requests to a local service node. The local service node can be located within the service provider&#39;s territory and returns telephony service responses via the packet-switched network gateway to the remote CO, and ultimately the remote CPE.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to telecommunication servicesand, more particularly, to a system and method for remote provision oftelephony services, such as Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) services.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is an ever increasing trend by telecommunications serviceproviders, such as a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC), to provideadvanced telephony services at remote locations, such as locationsoutside their usual service territories. These advanced servicesgenerally can include any service above providing a dial tone, and CLASfeatures and information services providing sport scores, time or day orweather; voice-mail; busy don't answer; paging services; voicerecordation and playback to third parties; speech or voice recognition;or recognition of dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals, or the like.In order to provide advanced telephony services, an advanced serviceplatform is required. To provide advanced services to geographicallyremote customers, the advanced service platform must be located eitherlocally, e.g., at the central office of the service provider; orremotely, e.g., in a competing RBOC's territory where the service is tobe provided.

If the advanced service platform is to be located remotely, the serviceprovider must incur a considerable expense. FIG. 1 shows a map 10illustrating exemplary geographically distributed advance serviceplatforms. In the example shown, a service provider maintains a localservice territory 11, for example, generally located in the Midwest. Toprovide remote services in other areas, such as California or Texas,remote service nodes (SNs) 12, 13 must be located outside the serviceprovider's territory 11. These service nodes can include any type ofserver capable of implementing the advanced service processors. Inaddition to providing remote platforms, any time changes or repairs arerequired at the remote service nodes, service representatives from theservice provider would have to be dispatched, which would add to thecost of providing the advanced service at the remote location.

Alternatively, advanced services can be provided to remote locations byredirecting calls, for example, cross country to the locale of thetelecommunication service provider. This arrangement is illustrated inFIG. 2, where calls are redirected to the local telecommunicationservice provider local advanced service platform 14. Calls within itsterritory 11 are redirected from various the remote locations where theservice is provided. This situation requires leased private lines,virtual private networks or re-routing and/or call forwarding overexisting long distance or toll lines. These options are relativelyexpensive, and thus, would add to the cost of providing advancedservices at a remote location by way of an advanced service platformlocated within the provider's territory. Thus, a need has arisen toprovide advanced services at remote locations without requiring remotelylocated advanced service platforms and less expensive than known systemsor call re-routing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is pointed out with particularity in the appended claims.However, other features of the invention will become more apparent, andthe invention will be best understood by referring to the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a map showing exemplary geographically distributedadvanced services platforms;

FIG. 2 illustrates a prior art technique of providing advanced servicesto remote subscribers;

FIG. 3 is a map illustrating a method and system for providing advancedtelephone services to remote subscribers in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a telecommunication system in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a flow diagram of a method of operating thetelecommunication system shown in FIG. 4, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a telecommunication system in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a telecommunication system in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for providingadvanced telecommunication services to remote subscribers by way of adata network, such as the Internet.

As used herein, “local” generally refers to the service territory of theservice provider and “remote” generally refers to a territory outside ofthe service provider's territory. Turning now to the figures, and inparticular to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a map 10, which conceptuallyillustrates the system and method for providing advancedtelecommunications services in remote locations in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. To provide advanced services toremote subscribers located outside a provider's regional territory 11,one or more packet-switched network gateways, 16, 17, such as Internettelephony gateways (ITGs), are provided in service areas, locatedoutside the provider's normal territory 11. The ITGs 16 and 17 can becoupled to geographically remote central offices (not shown) and to thepublic Internet 18. A local ITG 15 may be used to provide a gatewaybetween the Internet 18 and a local advance services node 19 locatedwithin the service provider's territory. This arrangement permits remotesubscribers to access the service platform 19 via the Internet 18.Utilizing a public packet-switched network, such as the Internet, toprovide advanced services in accordance with the present invention,significantly reduces the cost of providing these services to remotesubscribers, as well as obviates the need for the service provider toprovide and maintain service nodes outside its local territory.

An alternative to using the Internet is the use of a private internetprotocol (IP) backbone network. A private IP backbone connecting theITGs 17-18 can provide higher data throughput and reduced latency.

Although FIG. 3 shows the service node 19 located within the provider'sregional territory 11, the scope of the present invention is not solimited. It is within the privy of the present invention to locate theservice node 19 anywhere, whether inside or outside the regionalterritory 11.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary telecommunication system 10,illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, is shown whichincludes multiple customer premises equipments (CPEs) 21, 22, such astelephone sets or handsets, cellular phones and the like, which can beconnected through central offices 24, 25, or the like, to the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) 23. In addition, a remote ITG 34 isadapted to receive requests from CPEs and forward the requests via theInternet 32 to a local ITG 30, coupled to an advanced services processor(ASP) included in a service node (SN) 26, 28. The SN 26, 28 supplies therequested telephony service, such as caller ID, call screening, calleridentification, voice-mail, selective call forwarding, and the like bysending digitized signals through the local ITG 30, over the Internet 32or another packet-switched network, to the remote ITG 34. The CO canthen present the service to the CPE.

The telecommunication system 10 includes a subscriber CPE 21 at theremote site and called party CPE 22. Both of the CPEs 21, 22 areconnected to the PSTN 23. The PSTN 23 includes a caller CO 24connectable to the CPE 21 using a standard communication path 27 such asan analog local-loop, an integrated services digital network (SIDN)interface, or the like. In similar fashion, the PSTN 23 is connectablevia a called party CO 25 over a line 26 to the CPE 22. The CPEs 21, 22can be connected to the same CO.

The PSTN 23 may include telephony services associated with it, such asvoice-mail provided at one or more service nodes 26, 28. Such servicenodes may be implemented using a communication server or a servicenode/intelligent peripheral (SN/IP), such as the Compact Service Node(CSN), available from Lucent Technologies, Inc.

A remote ITG 30 is connected over a dial-up connection 29 to the COs 24,25 of the PSTN 23. The ITG 30 is used to transfer messages over theInternet 32, which can be received by a local ITG 34. Both ITGs, such asthose available from Internet telephony gateway suppliers, such as3COM/USR, Ascend, or Cisco Systems.

The ITG 34 is coupled via PSTN 36 to a local service node (SN) 40, whichcan be an ASP used to provide voice-mail, caller identification, calleridentification, privacy management, call forwarding, or similar advancedtelephony services. The SN 40 can be implemented using a SN/IP, such asa CSN from Lucent Technologies, Inc.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 100 of operating thesystem 20 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In theoperation of the telecommunication system 10, a caller A requests anadvanced service by accessing the CPE 21 (step 102, which may be aconventional telephone, by lifting the cradle and establishingcommunication with the PSTN 23 at the CO 24. The PSTN 23 can alsoconnect the call to the CPE 22 at the called party B. In such asituation, one or both of the parties may have a localized, advancedservice, such as voice mail services at node 28 or other service nodes.The system tests for authorization to access advanced services in step104.

If however, the caller A is a subscriber to one or more of the telephoneservices, the service logic in the PSTN 23 examines whether thetelephony services are to be provided locally or remotely in a step 106.If the services are to be provided locally, for instance by the SNs 26,28, the authorized services are provided in step 108. If the party A isto be provided with a remote service, the PSTN 23 service reroutes thecall to a telephone number associated with the ITG 30 in a step 110. TheITG 30 converts the incoming service request to a data packet format,such as a TCP/IP format (step 112). A determination is then made fromthe service request as to the address of the destination ITG 34 (step114). The data packets are then forwarded by one or more routers orswitches on the Internet to the local ITG 34 (step 116).

The local ITG 34 connects to the SN 40 through a second PSTN 36 in step118. The request through the PSTN 36 is directed to the SN 40 forprocessing. The SN 40 then answers the request in step 120. The SN 40associates the PSTN 36 on which it receives the call together with aparameter in the service request received from the ITG 34 with a serviceto be performed. The service might be call forwarding, call waiting,caller ID, voice-mail, call screening, or the like. At this point, audioinformation may be exchanged between the SN 40 and caller A using CPE 21in a step 124. Audio information can be passed in both directions.Service logic in the SN 40 interacts with the caller A and determinesthe services or treatment to be applied to the call and generates aservice response (step 122). The call can then receive the serviceresponse from SN 40 (step 124), or the call could be routed toadditional destination SNs. The SN 40 might, for instance, route thecall back through the Internet to the first PSTN 23.

The call can then ring at the CPE 22 of party B. There may be additionalinteractions with the SN 40 before the caller A and the party Bconverse. Alternatively, the call may be routed to voice-mail, acellular phone, or the like, based on the final telephone networkdesignated by the SN 40 based on advanced services process beingperformed.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a telecommunication system 200 inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The system200 includes a remote advanced intelligent network (AIN) 202 and a localAIN 216. Typically, the remote AIN 202 is located outside the serviceprovider's normal operating territory, while the local AIN 216 resideswithin the service provider's territory. The remote and local AINs 202,216 communicate with one another over the PSTN 232.

The remote AIN 202 includes a service management system (SMS) 212, aswitching control point (SEP) 210, a switch transfer point (STP) 208, aremote switching service point (SSP) 206, a subscriber CPE 204, and acalled party CPE 205. Similarly, the local AIN 216 can include an SMS224, an SCP 222, an STP 220, and a local SSP 218. In each AIN, thetelephone network uses common channel signalling (CCS) for communicationbetween the SMS, SCP, STP, STP, SSP and SSP. CCS is an out-of-bandsignalling method that utilizes packet-switched networking to allowmessages to be transported on a dedicated high-speed data network,separate from the subscriber voice or data communication path. The CCSutilizes the Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) protocol to send messagesbetween the network elements regarding call setup, line status, calleridentification, and other network data, including AIN inquiries. The useof SS7 in an AIN is well known to those skilled in the art. AINelements, suitable for implementing an embodiment of the presentinvention are commercially available from several vendors and are knownto those skilled in the art. For example, the functionality of the SSPs206, 218, as disclosed herein can be implemented using any AINcompatible switch, such as a 5ESS switch, available from LucentTechnologies, Inc.

A remote gateway 214 provides a communication path between the remoteSSP 206, and a packet-switched network, such as the Internet 234. Theremote gateway 214 can be implemented using an ITG, such as thatdescribed above herein.

A local gateway 226 communicates with the remote gateway 214 via thepacket-switched network 234. The local gateway 226 can be a commerciallyavailable ITG. One or more service platforms are provided within thelocal AIN 216. As shown, the service platform 228 can be operativelycoupled to the local SSP 218. In addition, a service platform 230 can bedirectly coupled to the local gateway 226. The service platforms 228,230 can provide advanced services to the remote CPE 204 upon requestsreceived via the public packet-switched network 234.

The service platforms 228, 230 can be implemented using commerciallyavailable AIN service nodes, such as a service node/intelligentperipheral (SN/IP) available from Lucent Technologies, Inc., as aCompact Service Node. Although not shown, one of ordinary skill in theart would readily appreciate that functionality of the service platformscan be incorporated into either the remote gateway 214, or the localgateway 226, without having to provide separate service platformcomponents.

In system 200, an advanced service residing on either service platform228, 230 is provided to the subscriber CPE 204 as follows. Initially,the subscriber CPE 204 can place a call to the called party CPE 205.During the course of the call, the remote SSP 206 can encounter an AINtrigger, such as a service request made by the caller. The remote SSP206 notifies the SCP 210 of the trigger event via the STP 208. Servicelogic within the SCP 210 can generate an SCP response message directingthe SSP 206 to route the call to the remote gateway 214. Upon connectingthe call to the remote gateway 214, the service request can bepacketized by the gateway 214 according to a protocol suitable fortransporting the service request over the public packet-switched network234. In an embodiment of the present invention relying on the Internet,the remote gateway 214 encapsulates the service request into datapackets for transmission using a TCP/IP protocol. The data packets arethen transferred to the local gateway 226.

The data packets transferred over the packet-switched network caninclude SS7 signalling. The SS7 signals sent via the packet-switchednetwork can be used within the local AIN 216, to perform the requestedservice via AIN elements.

Upon receiving the data packets containing the service request, thelocal gateway 226 determines which service platform can provide theservices based on parameters included in the service request. If theservice resides on the service platform 230, the local gateway 226requests the service using a suitable communications interface betweenthe service platform 230 and the gateway 226, such as a commerciallyavailable data transfer protocol such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, or the like.If the service resides on the service platform 228 attached to the localSSP 218, the local gateway 226 places a call to the service platform228, which is routed through the local SSP 218. The local gateway 226and the service platform 228 communicate using conventionalcircuit-switched telephony protocol.

After processing a service request, the service platform returns aresponse to the local gateway 226, which in turn transfers the responseto the remote gateway via the public packet-switched network 234. Theremote gateway 214 then transfers the response via the remote SSP 206 tothe subscriber CPE 204.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of telecommunication system 300 inaccordance with a further embodiment of the present invention. Thesystem 300 includes a central office (CO) 306, an Internet protocol (IP)server 308, a text-to-speech (TTS) service 316, miscellaneous services318, such as voice mail, voice recognition, dial-up informationservices, message forwarding, or the like. One or more IP exchangeservers 310-312 permit the IP server 308 to communicate with a systemadministrator 314.

The system 300 can provide advance telephony services to a remote calledparty 304. This can be accomplished as follows. A calling party 302 canplace a conventional phone call to called party 304. The call isreceived at the CO 306. The CO 306 includes a switch (not shown) whichreceives the call from the called party 302. The switch can beconfigured to provide remote call forwarding (RCF) to the called party304. RCF essentially intercepts incoming calls to party A, then forwardsthem to the IP server 308. The IP server 308 can communicate with the COswitch using a toll free trunk having a predetermined number.Accordingly, to forward party A's incoming calls, the RCF serviceconnects the incoming calls to the toll free trunk number prior toringing party A.

The IP server 308 can include an ITG as described above herein. Inresponse to the forwarded call, the IP server 308 initiates apredetermined service subscribed to by party A. The service can be anyadvanced telephony service, such as voice mail, call screening, or thelike. The service can be implemented using one or more software programsexecutable by the IP server 308. Depending on the selected service, theIP server 308 can perform various actions based on the incomingforwarded call. For instance, the IP server 308 could record a voicemessage left by party B, or could likewise play back a pre-recordedvoice message to party B. The IP server 308 could also cause the switchto disconnect the incoming call from party B, or alternatively, causethe switch to connect the incoming call the called party 304.

The called party 304 can also subscribe to a distinctive ring service,which provides distinctive ring cadences for incoming calls processed bythe IP server 308, and those coming directly from a calling partywithout first being processed by the IP server 308.

To further illustrate the operation of the system 300, an exemplary callscreening service will now be described. Essentially, the call screeningservice can screen all incoming calls to party A, to determine whethercaller ID information is being provided by the calling party. If nocaller ID information is present, the screening service automaticallyrequests the information from the calling party before connecting thecalled party A. The request can be made using the TTS service 316 topresent an audible message to the calling party. In response to thevoiced request, the calling party can utter a spoken message identifyinghimself/herself. Alternatively, the calling party can key in a phonenumber or other identifying number using a touch-tone keypad. The calleridentification information provided by the calling party can then beeither forwarded to the called party or compared to a predetermineddatabase of callers stored within the IP server 308. These actions canoccur before connecting the calling party to the called party. Based onthe caller identification information, the IP server 308 can direct theCO switch to either connect the call to the called party 304, or refusethe connection and terminate the call.

The CO switch can be implemented using a commercially availabletelecommunication switch, such as the 5ESS, from Lucent Technologies,Inc. Such a switch ports the distinctive ring and remote call forwardingfeatures.

The IP exchange servers 310-312 can be IP nodes or routers permittingthe IP server 308 to communication with the system administrator 314using a packet-switched network, such as the Internet or a private IPbackbone network. The system administrator 314 can be any type ofcomputer capable of communicating with the IP server 308 via any of theIP exchange servers. The system administrator 314 can be programmed toprovide service administration functions, such as processing of serviceorders from subscribers, authentication of service requests, and servicebilling.

With respect to service orders, the service administrator 314 caninclude a server configured to act as a Web site accessible via thepublic Internet. Subscribers and consumers interested in subscribing toservices can access the Web site over the Internet to place orders forservices available through the IP server 308. Upon receiving a serviceorder, the system administrator 314 can configure the IP server 308 toprovide the service to the subscriber. In ordering new services, asubscriber can be identified by his/her ten-digit phone number. Forservices requiring call transfer from the CO 306 to the IP server 308,the CO can be configured to identify subscribers according to theirten-digit phone number.

Regarding the authentication function of the system administrator 314,some services, such as voice mail, will require a subscriber to enter apersonal identification (PIN) before access is permitted. In such acircumstance, the subscriber party can key in a PIN number which isreceived by the IP server 308 and then forwarded via the packet-switchednetwork to the system administrator 314. The system administrator 314can include a database of subscribers and their corresponding PINnumbers for authenticating the service request.

With respect to the billing functionality, the system administrator 314can generate billing reports for subscribers based on messages receivedfrom the IP server 308. For instance, services can be provided on aper-use fee basis. Accordingly, every time the service is utilized by asubscriber, the IP server 308 can record the usage and then forward thisusage information to the system administrator 314, which in turngenerates a subscriber billing report.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in light of the above teaching. Thus, it is to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims the inventionmay be practiced otherwise then is specifically above.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing a telephony service to a remote subscriber customer premises equipment (CPE), comprising: receiving a telephony service request routed through a remote central office (CO); transferring the service request to a packet-switched network gateway; forwarding the service request over a packet-switched network operatively coupled to the packet-switched network gateway; receiving the forwarded service request at a telephone service processor; generating a service response in response to the forwarded service request; transferring the service response from the telephony service processor to the packet-switched network gateway via the packet-switched network; and transferring the service response to the remote subscriber CPE through the remote CO.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet-switched network gateway includes an Internet telephony gateway (ITG).
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony service comprises voice mail.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony service comprises caller identification.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony service comprises call forwarding.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony service comprises a caller screening service.
 7. A telecommunication system, comprising: a remote customer premises equipment (CPE) for generating a service request; a remote service switching point (SSP), in communication with the remote CPE, for receiving the service request; a first gateway in communication with the remote SSP, for forwarding the service request over a packet-switched network; a service node generating a service response in response to the forwarded service request; and a second gateway, in communication with the first gateway and the service node for transferring the forwarded service request and service response between the first gateway and the service node; the service response being transferred to the remote CPE from the first gateway via the remote SSP.
 8. The telecommunication system of claim 7, wherein the service request transferred over the packet-switched network includes SS7 type signalling. 